


Over Tea

by Miss_Prince



Category: Dangan Ronpa
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-17
Updated: 2013-08-17
Packaged: 2017-12-23 18:38:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/929757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_Prince/pseuds/Miss_Prince
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Celes invites herself into Kirigiri's room to make a proposition.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Over Tea

**Author's Note:**

  * For [overthetiber](https://archiveofourown.org/users/overthetiber/gifts).



The halls of Hope's Peak were nearly empty at this point in the evening. Celes encountered none of the other students as she made her way toward her destination, tray in her hands. On the tray were two cups filled nearly to the brim with tea, one clouded pleasantly with milk, the other a light, clear brown, both steaming. The liquid rippled gently with each step she took.

She came to a stop in front of Kirigiri's door. Celes carefully balanced the tray in one hand and schooled her face into a pleasant -- if a tad unnerving -- smile before knocking.

Her response was silence. That was to be expected, given that the rooms were soundproof, but it stretched on long enough that Celes began to worry that her effort would go unappreciated. But just as she raised her hand to knock again, the door cracked open.

Kirigiri's face was just visible in the opening. She raised an eyebrow when she caught sight of Celes. "Celes-san," she greeted neutrally. "What do you want?"

"I brought some tea," Celes said, presenting the tray. "I thought we could drink it together."

Kirigiri's eyes flicked to the tray. "It's nearly Night Time. Are you intending to break a rule you yourself suggested?" But the door opened another fraction of an inch.

"It doesn't take all that long to drink tea, does it?" Celes smiled wider and tilted her head. "Even if you savor it, which I hope you will."

Kirigiri looked at Celes for a long moment, her face utterly unreadable. Observing, calculating. That was Kirigiri's nature. But finally she opened the door fully and stepped back to admit Celes into her room.

Celes politely toed off her shoes by the door, next to Kirigiri's own boots. As Kirigiri retreated to the bed, Celes made sure to close the door behind them.

She followed Kirigiri to the bed and sat without invitation, placing the tray between them. She took her cup and took a sip, humming as the warmth rolled across her tongue.

Hesitantly, Kirigiri plucked her own cup from the tray and held it, staring into the dark liquid, her black gloves contrasting with the white porcelain of the cup where it lay cradled. Celes watched a lock of silvery hair fall forward over Kirigiri's shoulder as her head tilted, and she resisted the urge to brush it back.

"Why are you really here?" Kirigiri asked.

"To drink tea of course," Celes answered without a moment's hesitation. She took another sip and closed her eyes.

When she opened them again Kirigiri was looking at her. _Studying_ her, the way Kirigiri studied the clues left behind at each murder. It made Celes feel an uncomfortable connection to the dead bodies of their classmates. Kirigiri said nothing, clearly waiting for her to speak.

Celes took one more long, slow sip of tea. Her tongue darted out over her lips when she finished, and through the corner of her eye she thought she saw Kirigiri's eyes flick toward the motion. Finally, she turned fully to Kirigiri. "A school life of mutual killing... it's terrible, isn't it?"

"Mm." Kirigiri's face betrayed nothing.

"Five classmates dead now... I know we're little more than strangers, but it's chilling, isn't it? Knowing that a normal student could be capable of something like that."

"People are capable of many things under duress," Kirigiri murmured, turning away to stare at the wall. "In a situation like this, it was inevitable."

"That's quite the cynical outlook."

"It's merely a statement of fact." Kirigiri shook her head, and Celes watched the strands of the wayward lock shift against her jacket. "Human beings will take extreme actions in extreme circumstances. The two murders we've witnessed thus far support this statement."

"But to call it 'inevitable' is still pessimistic, isn't it?"

"Mm. Perhaps." Kirigiri's eyes returned to Celes's. "Did you come here to discuss the deaths of our classmates?"

"From a certain angle, you could say that." Celes broke away from Kirigiri's gaze, swirling her tea idly. "But more directly, I suppose I came to... propose an alliance."

"An alliance." Kirigiri's flat tone could not be mistaken for a question, but Celes responded anyway.

"This game of Monobear's has turned out to be quite dangerous. I'd simply feel better if I knew I had someone watching my back. Wouldn't you?"

Kirigiri's gaze was level. "Leaving aside any reservations I have about your trustworthiness, Celes-san... what reason have I given you to trust me? You must have noticed how many secrets I keep."

"A little mystery is exciting, isn't it?" She met Kirigiri's eyes with an intense gaze of her own. Now was the moment -- she reached out and gently brushed the errant lock of hair back over Kirigiri's shoulder. "I've learned that you have to be willing to take risks to get the rewards you wish for."

Kirigiri offered no reaction to Celes's touch. "I have no reason to accept such an offer."

"No?"

"As I've said before, I have no intention of killing or being killed. And as for the rest, determining the mastermind's identity and their goal..." Kirigiri shook her head. "I work alone. This I'm sure of."

"I'm sure none of us have any intention of being killed," Celes said, "but such intentions have failed five of our classmates already."

Kirigiri smiled then, an assured sort of smile. "Do you really think I'm capable of dying so easily?"

Celes suppressed a spike of irritation at the amused tone in Kirigiri's voice. Instead, she merely offered a smile of her own in return and said, "You haven't touched your tea."

Kirigiri looked down at her full teacup. "So I haven't." She returned her eyes to Celes's, the corners of her lips still quirked upward in the hint of a smile. "You'll forgive me for being wary, won't you?"

"I promise I haven't poisoned it," Celes said, "but I understand if such a promise bears little weight." She pretended to ponder for a moment. "Perhaps this will convince you?"

Celes set her own teacup down and plucked Kirigiri's cup from her unresisting hands, fingers brushing against the leather as she did. She brought the cup to her lips and took a sip. Mint -- a nice flavor, though not Celes's personal favorite. She had seen Kirigiri reach for this particular blend a few times, however. When she pulled the cup away, she could see the faint shine of her lip gloss smudged on the rim. With a smile, she handed the cup back to Kirigiri, very deliberately placing the cup such that the gloss smudge was in the perfect place for Kirigiri to place her lips, should she deign to take a sip. Someone with Kirigiri's observational skills could not fail to notice.

Indeed, her thumb reached up to trace the edge of the smudge as she stared thoughtfully down at her tea. Rather than drink, however, she reached for Celes's cup and took a sip of that instead. Celes watched curiously as Kirigiri returned her cup to the tray, a thoughtful expression on her face.

Then she leaned over and kissed Celes.

Celes was caught so off-guard by the sudden press of lips against her own that she offered no resistance at all as Kirigiri's tongue slipped into her mouth. Her brain was just beginning to catch up to the sensations -- soft, very soft, like the whisper of silk over her lips, velvet ghosting over the roof of her mouth and her tongue -- when Kirigiri pulled away.

It took a moment for the room to come back into focus. "So you did actually drink it," Kirigiri was saying. She took a sip of the tea at last. "Mm. How kind of you to notice I favored this blend."

Celes attempted to school her no-doubt slackjawed expression back into her carefully-cultivated mask. Kirigiri looked utterly unfazed, and a spark of anger leapt in Celes's chest that she couldn't entirely quash. "You're quite forward," she said, with a little more bite than she had intended.

Kirigiri tilted her head. "It was important to determine that you didn't simply pretend to drink. This was the easiest way, don't you think?" She took another infuriatingly long drink from her teacup, clearly relishing it. "And besides," she continued, "if you're going to flirt, you ought to be willing to follow through."

Celes blinked. Then, almost against her will, a small smile tugged at the corner of her lips. "Is that so?" she murmured. She reached out with one stocking-clad foot and ran her toes up Kirigiri's calf.

To her delight, Kirigiri blushed.

"I think you should take your own advice, then," Celes purred, "and let me kiss you properly." She plucked Kirigiri's tea from her hands once more and set it firmly on the tray. Then she cupped Kirigiri's cheek with one hand, slipped the other up to sift through her hair, and leaned in.

Kirigiri's lips were definitely soft, and just a bit damp from the tea, and she tasted pleasantly of mint. Celes was certainly finding a new appreciation for the flavor. When she pulled back, she noticed with a small sense of triumph that Kirigiri's lips had turned a lovely shade of pink and her eyes were just slightly hazy. She recovered quickly, though, reaching up to smooth her hair where Celes's fingers had mussed it.

"I work alone," Kirigiri repeated. Before Celes could respond, she continued, "But-" Her voice was a little huskier than usual. She cleared her throat. "But, if you would like to discuss this further... feel free to drop by tomorrow night." She eyed the tray, then met Celes's gaze. There was a spark of something there Celes was surprised to see in someone as carefully controlled as Kirigiri. "Tea won't be necessary."

Celes smiled. "I'll be looking forward to it." Feeling daring, she leaned back in for one more peck on Kirigiri's lips before standing, taking the tray. "Have a good night, Kirigiri-san."

"Good night."

The door closed behind Celes, and as she headed toward the kitchen, the gears of her mind began to turn. No matter which direction her thoughts went, however, they kept returning to the softness of Kirigiri's lips against her own.

Perhaps her _other_ plans could be set aside for the moment, in the interest of exploring these new possibilities.


End file.
